lobbyists

November 3, 2017 -
Before landing in legal trouble for his actions related to advising a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, President Trump's former campaign chair was a GOP operative who worked to build support for the party among whites by appealing to their racism against African Americans.

April 14, 2017 -
The Trump administration unveiled plans to expand offshore drilling at last week's conference of the National Ocean Industries Association. Launched by Exxon in the 1970s to represent the offshore drilling industry, NOIA has been investing in politicians from Southeastern states where its members would like to do business.

August 14, 2015 -
Southern governors, working in concert with energy industry lobbyists, are pressing the Obama administration to open ocean waters off the East Coast from Virginia to Georgia to oil and gas development. But a burgeoning grassroots movement bringing together environmentalists, business leaders and coastal residents is gaining momentum as it fights to block drilling in the Atlantic.

September 20, 2013 -
A private political nonprofit that does not have to publicly disclose its donors is running TV ads across North Carolina touting the governor's agenda amid widespread criticism and slipping poll numbers.

July 15, 2013 -
A new poll finds that the majority of North Carolina residents oppose fracking, but their elected state representatives are aggressively pushing to fast-track the controversial gas drilling technique in the state. Could a backlash be brewing?

March 14, 2013 -
When Uranium Energy Corp. sought permission to launch a large-scale mining project in Goliad County, Texas, it seemed the EPA would stand in the way -- until a powerful Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser intervened.

October 23, 2012 -
Just-released documents reveal two members of the Republican faction that ended Wake County schools' desegregation policy were involved in an extramarital affair. When it ended, one blamed the other for a burglary -- and now both are running for higher office despite claims the affair was widely known among political insiders. We look at the big conservative donors supporting their campaigns.

October 3, 2012 -
A grassroots effort to open up the presidential debates to third-party candidates has succeeded in getting three of the 10 corporate sponsors of the debates that begin tonight to withdraw their support.

October 3, 2012 -
Indiana Republican Steve Buyer, who fought tobacco regulation while in the House, is now representing the North Carolina-based tobacco giant, which has been aggressively marketing smokeless tobacco products in the face of declining U.S. cigarette consumption rates.

August 27, 2012 -
The North Carolina General Assembly's Republican leaders are raising more money from special-interest political action committees than their predecessors, despite promises to end the state's "pay to play" political culture.